Finding minority writers isn't 'racial nepotism'. It's the cure for bigotry | Anjali Enjeti

A recent spat involving the Best American Poets 2015 anthology reveals the extent of problems around diversity and cultural appropriation in literature

In America, the work of writers of color is severely under-represented in the literary world. It is therefore ridiculous to argue that an editor looking to publish underrepresented writers is engaged in “racial nepotism”. But that is precisely what Sherman Alexie, guest editor of the Best American Poets 2015 edition, argues he is guilty of in a recent poetry spat about diversity and cultural appropriation.

Alexie included Michael Derrick Hudson’s poem The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve in the recent poetry anthology. Hudson wrote the poem under the Chinese pseudonym Yi-Fen Chou, a fact which only came to Alexie’s attention after he selected it to be included. However, the editor decided not to exclude it, or publish it on the condition that it appears under Hudson’s name. He argued that it would have been “dishonest” to do so after learning of his true, non-Asian identity.